Yet another boring day....

Seriously, a really boring day at work. Things are much slower. I have basically been able to get what I need to get done in about the first hour of the day. If they didn't need someone to open the door to let people in, I think they could do without me for ohh....3 or 4 days out of a week right now. I don't want to give you the wrong impression. It is not always like this...usually I do about 3 peoples work in a day and still have work waiting for me but during the summer months things do tend to quiet down. This year instead of it slowing down around the middle of July, it began in early June. I can't imagine what August is going to be like which is traditionally our slowest month around here.

Anyway...this is suppose to be a craft blog -- showing you all my lovely creations -- NOT a "lets whine about what my life is like at the moment" blog. So on that note, here is my latest card. I made this as part of a challenge this past weekend to use the colours electric blue, lemony yellow and red. I really, really like how this turned out. The colour combo is very striking. I am glad that I thought of this challenge. It was one of my challenges for the ScrapCentral members for the on-line weekend crop we had last weekend.


Materials used: Stamping Bella stamp, Spellbinder Large & Small Oval Nesties, Spellbinder Classic Scallop Oval Nesties, Misc. ribbon, Doodlebug pattern paper, Sassafrass pattern paper, Versa Ink (Cyan), Copic Sketch makers, Memento Ink.

This was the only thing I managed to get done this weekend. I was hoping that I would get a circle journal layout down that was due on the 15th. It is now the 17th and I still haven't finished it. The topic of the layout is "The Girl in the Mirror". It is suppose to be a self-reflective piece with an emphasis on journalling. If you have taken a look at any of my layouts, you will know that I am not big on journalling. Most of the time it is just name, place and date so I am finding this one to be a bit of a challenge. I think I might have found a way to approach this today...finally....so I am hoping that I can get it done tonight.

Another Scrapping With The Oldies Layout

Last weeks Scrapping with the Oldies challenge was to use 3 Bugs in a Rug pattern paper that was 2008 or earlier, We R Memory Keepers grommets and any type of ribbon that we wished. The mystery item was Scenic Route rubons. Interestingly enough, I had them all in my stash (no snickering in the peanut gallery) but how to encorporate them all into a cohesive layout?

3 Bugs in a Rug paper has all been a bit difficult for me to work with. I love the patterns but I find that it doesn't really fit the style of my scrapbooking. The colours are not something that I normally would choose. The only reason that I had any in my stash was that it came in some kits from a kit club that I use to belong to...and I never used it.

When we were visiting the inlaws on the Victoria Day weekend, one of the activities we did was to go 5 pin bowling. It was hiliarious to see all the cousins bowling. The oldest is 11 soon to be 12 and the youngest is 4. My two munchkins, having never bowled before, managed to at least get the ball down the lane....most of the time. Lets just say that there was a few times where we were not sure and once where the ball needed a bit of extra help from one of the adults...thankfully he had a very good aim.


The retro feel of the the 3 bugs in a rug paper worked really well with the bowling photo that I took of the kids. Bowling alleys really need to have a place where you can take photos looking at the kids faces instead of the backs of their heads.

One note to self....don't do your journalling at 2 am. Your writing tends to suck at that time. Wait until the morning so that you can space your letters properly.

Scrappin' With the Oldies

ScrapCentral is running another series of challenges called Scrappin' With the Oldies. I love these challenges since they get me thinking outside my box. Week's 1 challenge was to use old Basic Grey pattern paper, American Craft chipboard or felts, and any type of chipboard letters (our choice). The whole point of the challenge is to get everyone to use up their stashes.

There is also a "mystery" item that is listed in a jumble. You have to solve the jumble to discover what the mystery item is. Week's 1 mystery item was a Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card.

I managed to incoporate all of the items in my LO. This layout is much simpler than my usual style of late but I still couldn't get away with out adding some bling to it.

Materials: Basic Grey Oh Boy pattern paper, American Craft chipboard tag, Jenni Bowlin bingo card, Basic Grey letter stickers, American Craft cardstock Thickers, foil star stickers, transfer foil, Stickles and Riff Raff chipboard.

I took one of the Prima Say it Like Crystal swirls and traced it onto a transparency. I then used a paper piercer to transfer the swirl to the cardstock after which I used it for a template for adding Stickles to the paper. I wanted a more subtle bling than the crystals. I think that it worked well with the foil stars.

The photo was taken at my inlaws farm. My son had just received a rocket for his birthday and the cousins & uncles were outside trying to get it to fly....and boy did it fly. You can see the rocket in the picture and it hadn't even reached its apex yet....the picture that I missed taking was the uncles trying to get the rocket out of the big maple tree just a few moments later.

Cropping

I don't often go cropping outside my own house. I find it hard to preplan what I am going to work on and gather everything up that I need. I tend to go with the flow when I create. I tend to go through my stash looking for little additions to help flesh out designs.

At a crop, I really can't do that. I am limited to what I actual brought with me or what I can beg, borrow or buy at the crop. I find it a stressful way to do a layout or at least I did until this weekend.

I went to a Saturday crop down in Wincester with my friend Carmen. I have been to this crop before and enjoyed myself but I didn't get much done last time -- more because my mojo wasn't flowing than anything else. This time -- I was able to come up with a layout that I really like and I got it done in time to submit it for the layout contest. I am pretty proud of myself. It didn't win but it did get an honourable mention.

Materials used: Fancy Pants pattern paper, Making Memories pattern paper, Doodlebug flocked paper, Basic Grey pattern paper, Prima Say It With Crystals, Copic markers, Kaiser bling, Riff Raff chipboard, Ranger paint dauber (white), Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Perfect Pearls, Prima vine.

I had lots of fun layering everything.

I also managed to get one card finished for the card challenge. I am really starting to get the hang of using Copic markers. I really like the bright colours that you can get with them.

This one did win the card challenge. Yay! I received a nice little goodie package.


Materials used: Prima cardstock, Bazzill dot cardstock, My Little Yellow Bicycle pattern paper, Copic makers, Versamark Cyan ink, Spellbinder nesties, Great Impressions stamp, Stamping Bella stamp.

I also came up with my design for this month's ATCs. I am so looking forward to doing the exchange this month. It has been a while since I have been able to get there.

National Scrapbooking Day

In celebration of National Scrapbooking Day last week, I participated in a couple of on-line crops. The fact that I managed to get 2 layouts done and 3 cards in one weekend is a major feat for me. I am quite happy with what I managed to produce. I got to play with some new products and to try some new techniques.

In this Easter layout, I made my own bling swirls using transparencies and Liquid Pearls (as per Lynn B). They worked out really well and I am going to continue to use this technique.


Materials: Bazzill cs, Prima transparency, Imaginesce flowers, Prima leaves, Basic Grey rubon, Bling swirls made with Liquid Pearls, Mambi bling, M's 1.50 bling, Bazzill dot cs, LYB pp, paint and Copic markers, White Signo pen and for the life of me I can't remember the manufacturer of the brads but they are princess brads.

I also dug out my Copic markers which I have only used to colour Prima clear bling swirls to this point and actually did some colouring. I picked up a Mememto ink pad and I must admit it made a huge difference in my images.

Materials: Bazzill dot cs, LYB pp, Melissa Francis pp, Copic Markers, Momento ink, Dew Drops, misc. ribbon, Prism cs.

I love this last layout. I love the Spellbinder leaves. The dark pink ribbon buds and all the bling intermingled. I am having so much fun playing with layering and pop-dots. Gotta love pop-dots.

Materials: Core-dinations cardstock, Bo Bunny pp, Prima bling, Misc. ribbon, Bazzill cs, Sharpie journalling pen, Thickers, Copic Markers.

The crops are still continuing until the end of this week and I hope to attempt a few more of the challenges. Pesky everyday stuff, like work, has been getting in the way.